Some days ago, the government of Joseph Muscat presented the Budget which, at first glance, appears positive. He told us he would reduce electricity tariffs by 25 per cent and Minister Konrad Mizzi even told us that thousands of families would save 35 per cent.
I made some calculations for a single person who lives alone, a family of two persons etc, based on average annual consumption in our country. In every case, when you compare the old bill with the new one, you will find that the reductions will be of 20 per cent. Even when the eco-reduction is taken into consideration.
A person living on his/her own will end up saving €80 a year, exactly as much as Mizzi’s wife earns in one hour according to her consultancy contract given to her by her husband’s government at €13,000 a month.
A family of two will save about €101 a year. If one of the two persons smokes even just one packet of cigarettes a day, this government will have recovered more money through levies than the family will have saved. The price of cigarettes has increased by 30c or even 40c a packet, so this person will be paying the Government at least €109, €8 more than they are saving on their electricity bill.
And then the Government insists that families will save €25 million in total. They did not tell them that €72 million in new taxes are to be paid every year. When one goes through the details of the Budget, one realises that, with one hand, the Prime Minister is presenting positive measures such as tariff reductions but, with the other, he is recouping a bigger sum through taxes. And this when, before the election, they had solemnly promised they would not increase the tax load.
In our speeches we are giving factual proof that the Budget they presented is one of illusion and not of vision, as we were expecting from the first one to be presented by a government elected with a large majority because it claimed it had a road map. In the Budget, we could clearly see that there is no road map but they have simply started the process for dozens of white papers, as well as green papers, because they have no idea. The only new idea is the sale of citizenship at low prices to people who will remain secret.
The Government’s decision to reduce electricity tariffs is a positive one in the sense that it will help families. At the same time, it has decided to increase the tax on fuel after just a week that they had told us in Parliament that it would be reduced for families and industry. A few days after this they announced that the price will be going back to its previous level because they are increasing the tax on fuel.
So, who benefited? Certainly not the consumer who will be paying the same price as before. Only the Government benefited as it will be collecting more taxes, including from Enemalta, the corporation they keep telling us is bankrupt.
It is clear that, in spite of all his attacks, the Prime Minister found a solid base in the energy sector: the BWSC power station extension put Enemalta in a situation where electricity tariffs can be reduced. We are saving €1 million a week because the BWSC plant is much more efficient. By March 2014, they will have saved €64 million but, in the meantime, they are saying that families will be saving only €25 million.
The Budget also lacks any incentives for the use of alternative efficient energy. The scheme for photovoltaic panels for industry was halted and there is no indication when it will be re-opened. What is going to happen to the European Union funds that had been allocated to this scheme? – November 16.
Sandy
I started reading the biography of Alexander Cachia Zammit published last week. Once I started the book I could not let go of it and finished it at one go.
Sandy is the politician who, as Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella writes in the book’s Forward, “has experienced everything”. He was the only politician in our country to be tried by jury. Soon after the 1971 election, won by the Labour Party, he was charged in court and accused of stealing government documents. He went through a bad trauma but when you read the book you realise how serene the man was, at peace with his conscience and sure of himself. And, although they told him he would not be charged if he apologised, he preferred to be tried by jury because he knew he was in the right.
The Budget is one of illusion not of vision
This biography does not only bring you face to face with values that are wholesome but also with what is wrong in politics – abuse of power and institutions manipulated into being partisan tools so that, instead of protecting the citizen, they become government accomplices. The police abused their power on that occasion.
In these eight months, and precisely just a few hours after winning the election, the Labour government removed the Police Commissioner and brought back to the force someone from its inner circle, nominating him Police Commissioner. In these eight months we have heard and seen stories from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the police that shock and bring a chill down our spine.
At the age of 89, Sandy is a man one enjoys to meet – a real politician, a man of principle with a strong moral fibre. These are values that never age: loyalty, unity and honesty.
Those of us who are in politics need to keep constantly in mind these values which enhance our reliability so that we can be of example because, as Sandy rightly states in this biography, written by Sergio Grech, however old you get, whatever your age, there are values that never become outdated – November 15.
Green fingers
If there were one initiative that was successful and definetely non-controversial, it was certainly the Midd Idejk fil-Biedja one. This is what we had called the scheme two years ago.
Just over 60 people from all walks of life, including a doctor, an architect, a teacher, an engineer, a technician, a librarian and others were given the opportunity to try their hand in growing vegetables and flowers in a plot of land at the Għammieri Government Centre.
For many of them this was a first experience and they launched themselves into it with great enthusiasm. We provided each of them them with an allotment of 10 metres by five metres as well as a water supply and they produced an abundance of horticultural produce: fruit, vegetables and flowers for their own consumption.
Thanks to this initiative they found a way to enjoy themselves while learning to better appreciate the work of our farmers.
The new Labour government, however, could not tolerate even such an initiative. Out of pique and spite they are destroying it. They started last May by notifying allotment-holders that when their contract expired they would have to leave Għammieri and take up a plot at Bulebel, near Żejtun.
In the notification letter they were told that “it had always been the plan to transfer the project away from Għammieri”. This is not true. The land in Bulebel had been identified by us to accomodate more people who had applied for the scheme but could not be accomodated at Għammieri because of lack of space. Someone important stamped his foot and had his way. He did not want them there, even though the parliamentary secretary had already declared that he wished them to remain there. But, in the end, it was this important person who got his way; Roderick Galdes gave in.
Some weeks ago they went a further step to kill this initiative completely. They terminated the service contract of the coordinator of the project. They sent him a letter telling him that they were ending his contract with immediate effect, from the next day.
By the time he received the letter, his contract had already been terminated. No sense of decency at all. And to think that, before the election, Labour had told us they would be positive and build on what was good. Even a positive initiative like this one is being destroyed.
Among those who had been given an allotment were Labour voters because we did not discriminate as this government does. And even these are disgusted. Many have contacted me to express their frustration and anger – November 14.
http://georgepullicino.blogspot.com
George Pullicino is a Nationalist MP.